The present invention relates to edgers and, in particular, to electrical edgers for trimming grass along the borders of a lawn, such as along sidewalks, curbs, driveways, adjacent buildings, and around landscaping.
Electric edgers are widely used to trim along the edges of lawns to provide the lawn with a neat, manicured appearance. Conventional edgers typically comprise a horizontally disposed electric motor that drives a cutting blade that rotates along a vertical plane. The electric motor is mounted to a chassis that is typically supported by a pair of wheels to the rear of the motor and sometimes by a single wheel in front of the motor. To enable the edger to trim as close as possible up to a perpendicular border or wall, the axis of rotation of the cutting blade is typically offset forward of the motor adjacent the front wheel with a drive mechanism connecting the output shaft of the motor with the cutting blade spindle.
While such conventional edgers are certainly adequate for their intended purpose, they do suffer from several disadvantages that compromise their utility. Firstly, conventional electric edgers of the above-described type, by the nature of their design, have a relatively long wheel base which hampers their maneuverability. Consequently, such edgers are difficult to use around sculpted landscape borders. In addition, because it is undesirable to have the front wheel protrude beyond the forward sweep of the cutting blade, the diameter of the front wheel must be kept relatively small. As such, on anything other than relatively smooth, paved surfaces, the front wheel of conventional edgers is easily obstructed. This is especially true when used around landscape borders where the front wheel has a tendency to bury itself in the grass rather than roll over it.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved electric edger that is more easily maneuverable than conventional edgers, and yet is stable in the rest position. In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electric edger that is convenient to use not only along straight, paved walkways, but also around irregular-shaped landscape borders where the edger must freely travel over soft and uneven terrain.
Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved edger that achieves these objectives without increasing and, preferably, by even reducing the overall dimensions of the edger. In addition, it is an object of the present invention that the edger be durable, yet economical.
Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment which makes reference to the drawings of which: